Book Review: When Strangers Meet

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: Srishti Publishers

Total Pages: 216

Author: K. Hari Kumar

About the Author:

Hari Kumar Krishnamoorthy (born 3 January 1989), better known as K. Hari Kumar, is the author of spine-chilling horror and thriller fiction, including That Frequent Visitor, which was the only novel written by an Indian writer to be featured on Amazon.com’s list of bestselling horror titles (till 2018). His latest book is ‘India’s Most Haunted’ – a collection of horror short stories published by HarperCollins India. His previous book ‘The Other Side of Her’ was adapted as the web series Bhram starring Kalki Koechlin and Sanjay Suri.

K. Hari Kumar was named the top horror writer of India by Desiblitz, UK-based digital magazine. Born in Cochin and brought up in the suburbs of Gurgaon, he did his schooling from DAV Public School, Gurgaon. His first book When Strangers Meet was published in 2013. He is currently working on the screenplay of a horror film alongside the manuscript of his next horror novel. 

Book Cover:

The cover of when strangers meet is Self-explanatory. There are three men, all from different ethnicity and strata of life. And the story takes us to 3 different cities that is New Delhi, Gurgaon and Chennai. Plus, one metro station board is prominent, Ghitorni. Which in fact is prominent to the plot of the story as well. And a huge black cloud. The cloud can be considered as a natural rain cloud or the cloud of our own thoughts which doesn’t allow us to see a clear picture.

Plot:

The story has three Men, rather its about 6 men in total. 3 set of father-sun.

Its story of Jai and his father Mr. Sharma, a very strict maths teacher. Arshad and his Abbu and Krishna prasad Iyer and his father.

Jai and Krishna prasad has more or less similar story, their fathers expect more from them, rather they have different dreams for themselves than what their fathers have for them. Both the dads are maths teacher and both the kids are poor in that subject.

Opposite to them are Arshad and his dad a Pathan, both encouraging and appreciating each other efforts.

Jai, Pathan and Krishna prasad’s story gets mingled up on a rainy afternoon, because of a technical snag in metro line at Ghitorni. They wait to in the waiting room till the services resume.

The interesting part is to know how their stories help them look at their own lives with a renewed perspective.

My Take:

While reading the book, its evident that the writer comes from a filmy background. The story moves slowly, but by the time it reaches the end that writer has you completely engaged.

As Hari has been brought up in Gurgaon, the description of places and dialect of people has been captured well.

Relationship between Pathan and his son Arshad is completely different and that stands out.

The suspense remains intact, you are taken aback by a surprising revelation as the story comes to an end.

The language is simple. Character’s get their own space to connect with the readers.

The story even has a moral, that one can learn from other’s mistake. When you already know the results of your action, you can always alter your own action so that you don’t meet the same fate.

The story is about a lifetime, and a decision to balance between father’s expectations and son’s own dreams.

We all know, fathers are strict with kids to get the best out of them. But when it comes to showing off their love they hesitate. The story is purely a father-son roller coaster.

Amazon link for When Strangers meet by K. Hari Kumar

Thanks to #bookchatter the book review program of Blogchatter for giving me this book.

If you like reading fiction have a look at Unloved in love by Rituparna Ghosh